Feedback on my League games

[NetProphet]

@Sims
Am I supposed to hit that ball more thinly

I'm saying that to avoid going long V topspin shots you (generally speaking) have to ensure you are hitting through the ball and with a more closed racket angle than that you would use for an opening loop V backspin. The racket start and finish points are different and you aim to hit more the top of the ball.

I think the differing swing trajectories are pretty well exhibited in this video

By that I mean the camera work to show us and not my commentary to say FZDs technique is adequate 😂

Watch especially the 2nd video at 2:30 where he does an opener V backspin followed by a topspin V the resulting block.
You can clearly see how it's more fwd with a higher starting point for the racket rather than the more vertical stroke with lower racket starting point V backspin.

How does the stroke differ if the ball is coming slowish but high trajectory vs fast?

I can only think that my stroke differs in that slower balls I have a more full stroke as I have more time, and faster balls I try to be more compact and a bit quicker as I have less time...

I will come back and post the game here when I have it ready to upload.

Nice one!
Remember to relax, then give your best and enjoy it! 👊

 

[ThePongCommenter]

well you make it sound like as if I never attack any balls. Not sure what rubber you would recommend but no rubber can help with "reach and touch". But what I meant was when I do decide to loop with my fh, I thought I could be more considerate without having to worry too much that it will go out.
I do feel like I need 10% less speed for the same spin amount. My current big problem with my fh strokes are that usually the balls I am attacking have not much backspin on it or are somewhat float balls. So by trying to do a FH topspin stroke instead of hitting flat like Dominik did against me, the rubber grips and arcs just slightly over the table.

It depends on what your definition of attack is. I watched a few matches and you rarely open on the forehand and when you do it is very slow and safe. The key is the arm speed. Your arm speed is very slow even on attack. And most of your FH shot selection is defensive, either pushing back long, or returning topspin with very short, soft and slow contact to the ball. Essentially somewhere between a block and half-way counter topspin but closer to a block. This isn't a criticism but simply an explanation of why harder tacky rubbers don't fit your shot profile.

I would probably go with something in the 48-50 range on the FH but you certainly don't have to change.

 

[pedro.dantas]

well you make it sound like as if I never attack any balls. Not sure what rubber you would recommend but no rubber can help with "reach and touch". But what I meant was when I do decide to loop with my fh, I thought I could be more considerate without having to worry too much that it will go out.
I do feel like I need 10% less speed for the same spin amount. My current big problem with my fh strokes are that usually the balls I am attacking have not much backspin on it or are somewhat float balls. So by trying to do a FH topspin stroke instead of hitting flat like Dominik did against me, the rubber grips and arcs just slightly over the table. Then I lose a bit of confidence and slow down my stroke or just do the same mistake again and again. 90% I hit it out 10% it goes into the net mostly because I slowed down too much. I do actually think a different rubber would work better for my fh atleast in matches. In training I am actually quite happy with it because I am more relaxed there.

@Sims

Am I supposed to hit that ball more thinly or more compact aka flat but still tangential. What gives me less error? How does the stroke differ if the ball is coming slowish but high trajectory vs fast?

I don´t know if I will score more points this time against him but it will be a different game with many different mistakes atleast. I am not going to play to survive and just try to attack from the get go. And yes I do expect him to shorten the serve to my FH he already did that in the first game when we played (we played twice already - this will be the third time)

I will come back and post the game here when I have it ready to upload.

The forehand stroke is a bit different for ball with spin variation, but basicaly if the ball is a bit high with no spin you should just go with a foward motion, if it's flat or thinly it mainly depends on you, both would work, but thinly you would have to use more your body to aply more force, the ball would get a sinking trajetory, a compact and flat stroke would have a straight trajetory and bounce higher.
I think you biggest problem is that you have an upward motion on forehand, and because of that you need to aply less force, otherwise the ball would go out.
It's also possible to use a foward motion against underspin balls with thinly contact, but in this case you need to use well the wrist to brush the ball.
PS: About the rubber, maybe you should try a rubber with lower arc on FH, dignics 09c has really high arc.

 

[blahness]

The thing is I struggle more when it has side topspin. Because you cant just hit at the back of the ball it would fly out.
So you have to hit the ball closer to 1 / 12 o clock if we would look at the ball from the side.

Ok I will keep that in mind

Yeah focus a lot more on aggressively looking for that 1st loop in and bringing a lot of quality into it. But of course, to do so you need to understand precisely where to contact and how to brush for max error tolerance against serves of various types. Like what I mentioned, the contact points are different and you need to already know what to do against each spin type. For me there are 7 different types of spin, and I categorise it in my brain. And if you know the spin, you need to put the loop on the table more than 80% of the time. This is so that if you don't make it even though you were in position, you automatically know that you made a misjudgment, so mentally you already have a read of what the serve was, and that helps you to judge future serves better.

Footwork imo etc.. is nice to have but it is not the lowest hanging fruit. Looping blatantly long serves is definitely the lowest hanging fruit at the moment.

Just find someone to serve you long serves of each spin archetype, and focus on just making a consistent quality 1st loop. I did this practice a LOT and it helped me tremendously.

When you are good at it, practice looping it and immediately recover back to ready position. And then add in the 2nd, 3rd balls etc...

 

[Zezima]

It depends on what your definition of attack is. I watched a few matches and you rarely open on the forehand and when you do it is very slow and safe. The key is the arm speed. Your arm speed is very slow even on attack. And most of your FH shot selection is defensive, either pushing back long, or returning topspin with very short, soft and slow contact to the ball. Essentially somewhere between a block and half-way counter topspin but closer to a block. This isn't a criticism but simply an explanation of why harder tacky rubbers don't fit your shot profile.

I would probably go with something in the 48-50 range on the FH but you certainly don't have to change.

Well as someone who didn´t need countertopspin so far obviously I am gonna chose to block instead of counterlooping it. Yes my loops against long backspin balls are slow and safe but I don´t mind that because I win the point instantly and if not I have enough time to recover and play another one against block.

This is also something I guess I do intentionally. As long as I don´t go for a straight winner I prefer to go with spin over sheer power where if they block I will not be able to recover and play the next shot weak. I am kind of hiding my bad recovery.
I do agree with you that I should be using more active strokes with my Forehand. I will work on it I don´t think that changing the rubber will change that either, its more of a mental/footwork thing. I just can´t make it work currently.

As @pedro.dantas already pointed out my stroke almost always goes more upwards than forwards. Thats why closer to the table I tend to shoot the ball out (against block/topspin balls) I just cant get it into my brain that even though I loop to my left eye I need to get over the ball and hit more forwards. This is a mix of wanting to add topspin on the ball so it goes down on the table and not wanting to overshoot (so I go more upwards instead of forwards and out)

When I had the warmup problem that in the beginning after driving for a couple of minutes I couldn´t topspin the ball at all. The coach in south germany (female) told me to not go forwards with the stroke then it would go out but that I should go upwards and give the ball some arc. My topspins would land on the table but it was slow and high arc and too easy to block. This also confused me now a lot because now did I overshoot because I went too much forward and should have gone up a bit or because I went too much up instead of going forwards. I might be just too dumb to understand.

Feels like I can adjust the pace and spin when doing defensive strokes from the back. But I can´t seem to adjust properly when doing an attacking stroke. I am pretty sure that I will hit a plateau now until I have understood that. Footwork I get it and can practise it but stroke adjustment (not just by pure luck/subconsious) on the other hand..

 

[Zezima]

The forehand stroke is a bit different for ball with spin variation, but basicaly if the ball is a bit high with no spin you should just go with a foward motion, if it's flat or thinly it mainly depends on you, both would work, but thinly you would have to use more your body to aply more force, the ball would get a sinking trajetory, a compact and flat stroke would have a straight trajetory and bounce higher.
I think you biggest problem is that you have an upward motion on forehand, and because of that you need to aply less force, otherwise the ball would go out.
It's also possible to use a foward motion against underspin balls with thinly contact, but in this case you need to use well the wrist to brush the ball.
PS: About the rubber, maybe you should try a rubber with lower arc on FH, dignics 09c has really high arc.

yeah but thats also counter intuitive that because of my forwards stroke I should be using a lower arc rubber. Thats not solving the actual problem. It would make it worse even no? Because then I would need to do the upwards motion even more. I also don´t understand why when warming up for the match against block I seem to have no problem now looping forwards but in the actual game I go upwards again?

How can I relearn it? Doing Falkenberg drill I also seem to have no problem looping forwards. Or maybe I do because I dont go 100% but I go 70% (applying less force as you said) I think this is just speculation at this point. Would need to film myself doing the Drill. I will try to get some footage after next week.

 

[Zezima]

Yeah focus a lot more on aggressively looking for that 1st loop in and bringing a lot of quality into it. But of course, to do so you need to understand precisely where to contact and how to brush for max error tolerance against serves of various types. Like what I mentioned, the contact points are different and you need to already know what to do against each spin type. For me there are 7 different types of spin, and I categorise it in my brain. And if you know the spin, you need to put the loop on the table more than 80% of the time. This is so that if you don't make it even though you were in position, you automatically know that you made a misjudgment, so mentally you already have a read of what the serve was, and that helps you to judge future serves better.

Footwork imo etc.. is nice to have but it is not the lowest hanging fruit. Looping blatantly long serves is definitely the lowest hanging fruit at the moment.

Just find someone to serve you long serves of each spin archetype, and focus on just making a consistent quality 1st loop. I did this practice a LOT and it helped me tremendously.

When you are good at it, practice looping it and immediately recover back to ready position. And then add in the 2nd, 3rd balls etc...

I actually have a hard time memorizing the serves spin and how I hit the ball. Sometimes I hit the ball perfect and I couldn´t explain you what the incoming spin exactly was other than the sidespin if it had one. I also couldn´t tell you how my stroke looked like. This happens a lot to me except against long backspin balls. There I know how I exactly hit the ball and can mostly tell how much backspin it had (thats why I am more confident against those balls now) But as you can see I rarely get long pushes to my FH. They all start with some sort of sidebackspin or sidetopspin and mostly to my middle or backhand all of them being more long than short.

Once I am in the actual rally in the middistance I feel very comfortable bringing the ball back to the table.

 

[dingyibvs]

I can film myself and post it here next time. I doubt I do it too slow because I compared myself to the videos on the internet of better players.

Funny I just tried Viscaria with the same rubbers (d09c 2,1) both sides. It was a bit lighter than my setup. A bit harder feel. I could control it but I didn´t like it as much as my own blade. I think it also had a lower trajectory in comparison. Control wise I had more with my own blade but thats because I am more comfortable with my blade obviously. But just played 2minutes with it so I wouldn´t give too much value on this information.

Are those better players training or simply demonstrating the drill? Most demonstration videos go very slow to clearly show how the drill is done, it's not actually at a particularly useful pace, at least not for what you need to learn to accomplish.

 

[dingyibvs]

Yeah focus a lot more on aggressively looking for that 1st loop in and bringing a lot of quality into it. But of course, to do so you need to understand precisely where to contact and how to brush for max error tolerance against serves of various types. Like what I mentioned, the contact points are different and you need to already know what to do against each spin type. For me there are 7 different types of spin, and I categorise it in my brain. And if you know the spin, you need to put the loop on the table more than 80% of the time. This is so that if you don't make it even though you were in position, you automatically know that you made a misjudgment, so mentally you already have a read of what the serve was, and that helps you to judge future serves better.

Footwork imo etc.. is nice to have but it is not the lowest hanging fruit. Looping blatantly long serves is definitely the lowest hanging fruit at the moment.

Just find someone to serve you long serves of each spin archetype, and focus on just making a consistent quality 1st loop. I did this practice a LOT and it helped me tremendously.

When you are good at it, practice looping it and immediately recover back to ready position. And then add in the 2nd, 3rd balls etc...

No, he needs footwork. Like @Zezima said people don't serve or push long to his FH sweet spot very often. It may seem to you it doesn't take much footwork to move to the sweetspot, but he has zero footwork and can't loop anything on the FH side with anything resembling quality unless it comes directly to his sweet spot AND with enough time for him to recognize that it's in his sweespot. That's why he feels like he can loop with so much better quality in practice, yet he rarely does it in games.

 

[Zezima]

Are those better players training or simply demonstrating the drill? Most demonstration videos go very slow to clearly show how the drill is done, it's not actually at a particularly useful pace, at least not for what you need to learn to accomplish.

I have watched a few but those very of much worse players or kids. I saw this video in the feeds

he is also an austrian player just much much better.
Even though he says 100% on the FH balls I try to get it as close to 100% aswell but it depends with who I am training with. And I do it against backhand block. Against a better blocking player I go faster obviously.

 

[dingyibvs]

Well as someone who didn´t need countertopspin so far obviously I am gonna chose to block instead of counterlooping it. Yes my loops against long backspin balls are slow and safe but I don´t mind that because I win the point instantly and if not I have enough time to recover and play another one against block.

This is also something I guess I do intentionally. As long as I don´t go for a straight winner I prefer to go with spin over sheer power where if they block I will not be able to recover and play the next shot weak. I am kind of hiding my bad recovery.
I do agree with you that I should be using more active strokes with my Forehand. I will work on it I don´t think that changing the rubber will change that either, its more of a mental/footwork thing. I just can´t make it work currently.

As @pedro.dantas already pointed out my stroke almost always goes more upwards than forwards. Thats why closer to the table I tend to shoot the ball out (against block/topspin balls) I just cant get it into my brain that even though I loop to my left eye I need to get over the ball and hit more forwards. This is a mix of wanting to add topspin on the ball so it goes down on the table and not wanting to overshoot (so I go more upwards instead of forwards and out)

When I had the warmup problem that in the beginning after driving for a couple of minutes I couldn´t topspin the ball at all. The coach in south germany (female) told me to not go forwards with the stroke then it would go out but that I should go upwards and give the ball some arc. My topspins would land on the table but it was slow and high arc and too easy to block. This also confused me now a lot because now did I overshoot because I went too much forward and should have gone up a bit or because I went too much up instead of going forwards. I might be just too dumb to understand.

Feels like I can adjust the pace and spin when doing defensive strokes from the back. But I can´t seem to adjust properly when doing an attacking stroke. I am pretty sure that I will hit a plateau now until I have understood that. Footwork I get it and can practise it but stroke adjustment (not just by pure luck/subconsious) on the other hand..

I think I might know what the problem is. I've tried to do a more brushing, upward type of stroke as well and realized one key thing about that stroke -- you need to take the ball later, when it's lower and more in the falling phase. Try to do that to a ball that's above net height and it'll end in the ball going out. Your coach is not being very good if she didn't explain that part to you, or she did and you didn't internalize its importance.

I see why you're now so afraid to use power, you're trying to do an upward stroke and still land it on the table. You can't do that unless you really slow down your swing. Even if you're not trying to do it, your brain will subconsciously make you do it because it knows better than your conscious brain that trying to loop a higher ball upward with a brushing stroke will only end in disaster.

That stroke can be very effective at lower levels, but you NEED to wait for the ball to fall, whether it's topspin or backspin. If you want to loop the ball at a higher point then you NEED to hit into it and use a more forward (i.e. a FH drive as opposed to a brush loop) stroke with a bit more hitting. The HL5 is excellent in both types of strokes, but for the more powerful FH drive it takes a LOT of power to activate the blade.

I have watched a few but those very of much worse players or kids. I saw this video in the feeds

he is also an austrian player just much much better.
Even though he says 100% on the FH balls I try to get it as close to 100% aswell but it depends with who I am training with. And I do it against backhand block. Against a better blocking player I go faster obviously.

OK yeah that's what I thought. He was just demonstrating the move. It's good to start that slow to get the basics down, but if you want it to be game-useful then it needs to be much faster. Something like this video, which is a cross-over step version of the Falkenberg.

 

[Zezima]

I think I might know what the problem is. I've tried to do a more brushing, upward type of stroke as well and realized one key thing about that stroke -- you need to take the ball later, when it's lower and more in the falling phase. Try to do that to a ball that's above net height and it'll end in the ball going out. Your coach is not being very good if she didn't explain that part to you, or she did and you didn't internalize its importance.

I see why you're now so afraid to use power, you're trying to do an upward stroke and still land it on the table. You can't do that unless you really slow down your swing. Even if you're not trying to do it, your brain will subconsciously make you do it because it knows better than your conscious brain that trying to loop a higher ball upward with a brushing stroke will only end in disaster.

That stroke can be very effective at lower levels, but you NEED to wait for the ball to fall, whether it's topspin or backspin. If you want to loop the ball at a higher point then you NEED to hit into it and use a more forward (i.e. a FH drive as opposed to a brush loop) stroke with a bit more hitting. The HL5 is excellent in both types of strokes, but for the more powerful FH drive it takes a LOT of power to activate the blade.


OK yeah that's what I thought. He was just demonstrating the move. It's good to start that slow to get the basics down, but if you want it to be game-useful then it needs to be much faster. Something like this video, which is a cross-over step version of the Falkenberg.

First of all no she didn´t explain me that it was a 3days trainingscamp. She just saw me struggeling in the warmup with my forehand topspin.

The thing is even if the ball is float and slow I have to do upwards stroke otherwise it would land into the net. So I think overall also in practise I just did that upwards stroke more than the forwards stroke so the upwards stroke has internalized in critical moments.

I also don´t slow down my swing. Against Dominik in the 5th set I overshoot it twice. I just went "all in" instead of looping controlled with a bit slower swing. I keep thinking with this rubber that if I go slow that I wont engage the sponge enough to give the ball enough topspin to go over the net otherwise. Thats why I have those sweetspots on the FH side which is usually long in a way that I hit it when its falling down again. Those are the balls I wait for and barely get. If they are a tad too fast I block it back and high or just hit it in a weird lob motion back.

Maybe I am too far back aswell not just from the table but also from where the ball lands that I am just reaching out. It could actually be a quick fix for now to wait for the ball to fall a bit and then loop with more power instead of hitting it when its at the heighest point. I actually hate those higher balls doesnt matter what spin it has. I perform much better against lower arc balls because then I get low and can loop it. But against higher balls my height and overall stroke feels totally off and uncontrolled.

One of the worst balls I hate to loop are those mid highish ball half long to my fh where most of my opponents would flat hit especially this Dominik that I have faced. But since I don´t really do that stroke and instead do a topspin stroke I lift that ball because that ball is float/little backspin and unconsiously I think I have to lift it not realizing the height is enough to still just go forwards and not care that the ball is float/has some backspin.
So what do I do? I push those balls back a lot. And then I watch my game and be like that ball was totally attackable.

He was demonstrating the drill but I thought its alraedy quite fast. Your 2nd clip is too fast that I dont think you could do more than 1 round let alone find somneone who can multiball like that.

 

[dingyibvs]

First of all no she didn´t explain me that it was a 3days trainingscamp. She just saw me struggeling in the warmup with my forehand topspin.

The thing is even if the ball is float and slow I have to do upwards stroke otherwise it would land into the net. So I think overall also in practise I just did that upwards stroke more than the forwards stroke so the upwards stroke has internalized in critical moments.

I also don´t slow down my swing. Against Dominik in the 5th set I overshoot it twice. I just went "all in" instead of looping controlled with a bit slower swing. I keep thinking with this rubber that if I go slow that I wont engage the sponge enough to give the ball enough topspin to go over the net otherwise. Thats why I have those sweetspots on the FH side which is usually long in a way that I hit it when its falling down again. Those are the balls I wait for and barely get. If they are a tad too fast I block it back and high or just hit it in a weird lob motion back.

Maybe I am too far back aswell not just from the table but also from where the ball lands that I am just reaching out. It could actually be a quick fix for now to wait for the ball to fall a bit and then loop with more power instead of hitting it when its at the heighest point. I actually hate those higher balls doesnt matter what spin it has. I perform much better against lower arc balls because then I get low and can loop it. But against higher balls my height and overall stroke feels totally off and uncontrolled.

One of the worst balls I hate to loop are those mid highish ball half long to my fh where most of my opponents would flat hit especially this Dominik that I have faced. But since I don´t really do that stroke and instead do a topspin stroke I lift that ball because that ball is float/little backspin and unconsiously I think I have to lift it not realizing the height is enough to still just go forwards and not care that the ball is float/has some backspin.
So what do I do? I push those balls back a lot. And then I watch my game and be like that ball was totally attackable.

He was demonstrating the drill but I thought its alraedy quite fast. Your 2nd clip is too fast that I dont think you could do more than 1 round let alone find somneone who can multiball like that.

Yes, it's all making sense now. You did go "all in" on those shots, and you overshot, because you forced a stroke that your brain already knows doesn't work, which further reinforces your brain's learning that it's a shot that doesn't work. That really explains why your shots seem so timid vast majority of the time--unless you force it, your brain won't let you do it because it knows you'll just miss. To improve, you have two choices. Either wait until the ball falls a bit more, or practice looping the higher ball.

If you want to practice looping the higher ball, here are my thoughts, otherwise skip this paragraph. My guess is the problem in your training right now is that you stand far enough back that the ball falls to a rather comfortable height before it reaches you, so you can loop with good power and consistency. Try standing just a little bit closer, so that the blocked ball is at a height that you're currently not comfortable with. Maybe have your partner stand a tad bit back as well so it's harder for him to block a lower ball (in matches most of the blocks you receive back are not from right at the table but from further back). Try out different combinations of hitting and brushing, find a good combination that yields power and consistency, then drill that into your brain.

As for the Falkenberg, your video's demonstration is simply way too slow. That's the issue with the Falkenberg, you either need a really high level player/coach as your training partner, or you need a very good multi-ball feeder. Otherwise you get a drill that's too slow and not very useful. That's why I suggested the BH/FH one position drill. Any robot, training partner, or half-way decent multi-ball feeder can do it. It's also not as tiring as the Falkenberg so you can get more reps.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Well as someone who didn´t need countertopspin so far obviously I am gonna chose to block instead of counterlooping it. Yes my loops against long backspin balls are slow and safe but I don´t mind that because I win the point instantly and if not I have enough time to recover and play another one against block.

This is also something I guess I do intentionally. As long as I don´t go for a straight winner I prefer to go with spin over sheer power where if they block I will not be able to recover and play the next shot weak. I am kind of hiding my bad recovery.
I do agree with you that I should be using more active strokes with my Forehand. I will work on it I don´t think that changing the rubber will change that either, its more of a mental/footwork thing. I just can´t make it work currently.

That is all fine. It seems like you are reading my comments as a suggestion to play stronger and more active but I never said that. I simply explained why a hard and tacky rubber like Hurricane doesn't suit the style you have chosen for yourself.

 

[Zezima]

Yes, it's all making sense now. You did go "all in" on those shots, and you overshot, because you forced a stroke that your brain already knows doesn't work, which further reinforces your brain's learning that it's a shot that doesn't work. That really explains why your shots seem so timid vast majority of the time--unless you force it, your brain won't let you do it because it knows you'll just miss. To improve, you have two choices. Either wait until the ball falls a bit more, or practice looping the higher ball.

If you want to practice looping the higher ball, here are my thoughts, otherwise skip this paragraph. My guess is the problem in your training right now is that you stand far enough back that the ball falls to a rather comfortable height before it reaches you, so you can loop with good power and consistency. Try standing just a little bit closer, so that the blocked ball is at a height that you're currently not comfortable with. Maybe have your partner stand a tad bit back as well so it's harder for him to block a lower ball (in matches most of the blocks you receive back are not from right at the table but from further back). Try out different combinations of hitting and brushing, find a good combination that yields power and consistency, then drill that into your brain.

As for the Falkenberg, your video's demonstration is simply way too slow. That's the issue with the Falkenberg, you either need a really high level player/coach as your training partner, or you need a very good multi-ball feeder. Otherwise you get a drill that's too slow and not very useful. That's why I suggested the BH/FH one position drill. Any robot, training partner, or half-way decent multi-ball feeder can do it. It's also not as tiring as the Falkenberg so you can get more reps.

I agree I need to train those balls more. I have been training a lot against those last blocks where he knows exactly where I am gonna loop and in the match as you say they block different or even do a backspin push (kind of float). That's also why it's harder for me because they just chop my long sidespin into their backhand back. And I have no clue how much I need to lift that ball to make it over the net without the ball being too easy to block.
Same when I serve them into their forehand and they push it half longish and high. But not short and high enough for me to just slap it. I think 95% of the players I face they just hold their bat and lift my backspin push especially if I give them lots of backspin with my own push.
basically the ball stops coming to me and what happens is with my backhand I hit the ball too early too much in front of me and upwards motion. With the Fh I see the backspin I know I gotta lift it a bit but I seem to not get the motion right as you said no-one practises those balls me included. I feel as if in the training they push much lower also longer(not so fast) so that it's comfortable for me.
I really get the feeling that in matches I face balls I didn't practise in my training at all.

Not sure maybe I will just tell my practise partners to push higher but still halflong so the ball stops coming to me. But I doubt they would like to practise that with me after all they want to practise good pushes aswell hmm...

If I could get this down that would be a huge boost already combined with attacking long serves that look short to my fh.

I really think it's not the incapability of me not being able to hit strong forehand shots. I have a few good examples in each match. It's just that I am not comfortable doing against these type of balls.

I will try to find a way of practising it.

 

[Zezima]

That is all fine. It seems like you are reading my comments as a suggestion to play stronger and more active but I never said that. I simply explained why a hard and tacky rubber like Hurricane doesn't suit the style you have chosen for yourself.

I think giving a shot wouldn't be too bad. It seems softer than d09c atleast the h3 neo 39°.
I do agree though I need to be more active and for that I need to be more fluent with my feet and move around in between shots. I just don't know which way I should do it before I dont see where the next ball is gonna come.

This sport is just soo hard

 

[Dr Evil]

I can move around. It´s not like I am lazy (in some ways I am though) it´s just 90% of the time I don´t know where to move?? Like where I should be for the next ball and by the time I see the ball I am already too late to hit a good stroke except he plays exactly where my hit spot is..
In multiball this is better sure I am dead afterwards but thats normal. But I am not sure how to train this better for the match.

It's not worth doing something that kills you or your enjoyment of the sport, but within that limit I'd recommend as much multiball as possible. Especially middle-wide (feeder alternates between a shot to your elbow and then a shot to either wide forehand or backhand), and three point forehands. Start slow and focus on maintaining perfect footwork and balance. Also work on transitions, especially third to fifth ball (have someone feed you a long push to open up, and then a fast topspin to drive; start with a set pattern and then advance to semi-random). And serve receive, as others have mentioned, keeping in mind that footwork is just as important on receive as anywhere else.

An unexpected effect of improving your footwork is that your table vision will improve along with it, and the game will seem to slow down for you. And you'll know where to move better because your feet will tell you before you have to think about it.

 

[Zezima]

This one is a bit old (1year) . But it just came to my mind that he also loops very late atleast compared to me. Back then I was playing with Rakza 7 and G1 on the FH. In the warmup it looks very controlled and good spin. Ofc I didn´t want to use up all my energy up before the game.

Here you can see this is exactly the ball I like during the rally at 3:37 (clip starts at 3:29)
It has enough speed that I dont have to move forwards. Its not too fast either I have enough time to prepare my stroke. And then you can see me go hard on this ball.

But lately the balls I should attack are somewhat slow/ have no energy. And having to care about the tempo and arc is just too uncontrolled for me atm. But thats not a rubber issue. Even though I lost, I had fun, I was topspinning a lot.

Here aswell first one from middistance away from the table no problem. 2nd one against block faster more forwards.

I had to laugh hard in the next point. Don´t look at my legs xD

Damn now compared that match to the one I played against Dominik where my legs are legit just planted on the ground waiting for him to play into my hitting zone. Thats not good I should look back and be like I played shiet back then not the other way around

 

[jk1980]

just saw this video and thought this was a similar setup where a >1500 points player plays against a 1700 points player and they are even from south germany (so not that strong).

perhaps you already follow andreas and find it interesting to see him struggle with similar things, even though i think his topspin forehand looks more refined (if he does not stiffen up).

Here we see that the stronger player does simply bring the ball back and lets the lower rated player do the mistakes to grant the points. In your game your opponent was a bit more confident and attacked a little more, but the playing patterns were similar. You made the point for him by not returning the ball onto the table. There were very little "great shots" by him that would have troubled even higher skilled players.

 

[Zezima]

just saw this video and thought this was a similar setup where a >1500 points player plays against a 1700 points player and they are even from south germany (so not that strong).

perhaps you already follow andreas and find it interesting to see him struggle with similar things, even though i think his topspin forehand looks more refined (if he does not stiffen up).

Here we see that the stronger player does simply bring the ball back and lets the lower rated player do the mistakes to grant the points. In your game your opponent was a bit more confident and attacked a little more, but the playing patterns were similar. You made the point for him by not returning the ball onto the table. There were very little "great shots" by him that would have troubled even higher skilled players.

Those two are not really comparable with us other than their points difference. The better player here is just not attacking at all. I also don´t understand your point. Should the weaker player also not do anything and just push it back? He seems to be terrible at pushing much much worse than if he loops. His loops are super weak thats why he can´t break him apart from many unforced errors. He is not even trying to win by changing up his serve or anything. Just tries the same thing again and again.
I do like that he moves more than me in my last game lol. Thats already huge since you get to use your fh loop more unlike me. Thats gonna be my goal for Monday and overall for my future games aswell